It’s a full 4 hours walk through the ridges and a long winding path of stone. There aren’t really any archeological sites to see on most of the hike.
Activity: 4h05 of hiking for 11.07km (profile of the hike at the end of the article)
Night: Ecolodge Santo Campo
Day 82
The plan today is walking the Isla Del Sol from North to South. It should take between 3 to 4 hours. Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca is said to have been the capital if not one the main place of worship of the Inca in the region. Something like 80 ruins are sprinkled around and the main ones are accessible from a walking path along the edge of this fairly drastic island. It’s like a pinnacle shaped giant rock and each side is fairly steep.
We take the ferry from Copacabana at 8:30am, which takes about 2 hours to reach the northern village of Challapampa There we start the walk up to reach the ridges. We see quite a lot of nice terrasses pastures and fields. The water is incredibly clear and transparent as we look down below.
The first complex we come across is called Chincana labyrinth. It’s narrow walls and terrasses with the smallest of doors. It fairly nice to look at. It used to be a temple a couple of meters away is a sacrificial platform still erect.
Then it’s a full 4 hours walk through the ridges and a long winding path of stone. There aren’t really any archeological sites to see on most of the hike. The sites are at the very beginning and very end of the trail. So in-between, you enjoy the view and burn under the hot sun. There is no shade AT ALL in the entire walkway. You also have to remember that on those ridges you are at about 4,100m above sea level and even though the path is not that hard, altitude makes you go slower. Some website I had read described that there were some snacks and toilets along the way. There definitely were at some point, but all these huts are now empty and vacated. For those who are reading, please prepare picnic and plenty of water. Of course, we didn’t. We had plenty of water and snacks. By the time we reached the very upper part of Yunami town – I was famished.
We stopped at Pachamama restaurant which has a stunning platform with tables to enjoy the view of the lake. There we drank some tea and I ordered a Quinoa Soup. The lodge that was recommended to us by a fellow traveler that we had met in Iquique was another 15min walk away from the village. It’s called Ecolodge Santo Campo. We were happy to arrive and pleasantly surprised with a huge bedroom and a massive comfortable bed right with an impressive view of the lake. Especially as the sun was setting, and we had a full moon. What a beautiful scenery with the snowed peaks on the horizon ! It was exceptionally quiet.
Diner at the lodge was a simple plate of fish, rice, some vegetables and potatoes. There are potatoes in every dish in Bolivia. We are growing increasingly sick of it.
We hit the bed early, there isn’t much to do and the night is very cold. It’s better to be under our very warm blanket.